


Irreplaceable

by brightpinkballerina



Series: Family Matters [5]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Married Life, Near Death Experiences, Postpartum Depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26919337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightpinkballerina/pseuds/brightpinkballerina
Summary: Ash Ketchum been through quite a lot in his relatively short life. And yet, none of that seemed to have ever affected him quite as badly as this most recent incident; one where he wasn’t even the person being directly endangered.
Relationships: Kasumi | Misty/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Series: Family Matters [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785139
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Irreplaceable

**Author's Note:**

> This was the 100th installment of my Family Matters short story series on FF.net, and as a result, it's one that I also wanted to feature on AO3. It is loosely connected to some of my other stories, namely _A Masterful Promise_ , but can be read as a standalone as well.
> 
> Please enjoy!

There was no other way to describe it: the past few months of Ash Ketchum’s life had been traumatic. 

Ash being Ash, however, hadn’t exactly realized that until just now, after it was all over.

He’d been through quite a lot in his relatively short life. He’d had dangerous run ins with evil organizations, Pokémon thieves, hunters, and poachers. He’d fallen from enormous heights, nearly drowned, and suffered from numerous injuries. He’d been captured, attacked by Pokémon…hell, he’d come close to _death_ several times.

And yet, none of that seemed to have ever affected him quite as badly as this most recent incident.

One where he wasn’t even the person being directly endangered.

He sat up in bed, staring at his reflection in the dark television screen across the room. He felt like he’d been in this position forever and couldn’t even remember the last time he’d blinked. His mind was playing an endless loop of flashbacks, each one more horrifying than the last. And with each passing memory, all Ash could think was why it had taken him _so long_ to realize _just how bad_ it all was.

“Ash.”

The young man jumped as soon as he felt someone touch his shoulder. He whipped his head around and found himself staring at his wife, who had a distinct look of concern on her face.

“M-Misty!” Ash stammered, managing to let out a long breath shortly afterwards. “You scared me.”

“I’ve been talking to you since I walked back in here,” Misty calmly informed him. “It took me a good two minutes to realize you hadn’t heard a word I said.”

“Two minutes?!” Ash cried.

Misty raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder, towards the TV. “How long have you been staring at that for? It isn’t even on.”

“I don’t know,” Ash sighed, slumping his shoulders. “I guess I just kinda zoned out.”

At this, Misty frowned. “You’ve been doing that a lot recently. Is something bothering you?”

Ash bit his lip. Of course, there was, but it wasn’t really something he wanted to burden her with. It was difficult having to deal with it on his own, but Ash certainly didn’t think it was fair to saddle something like that on his wife, either. After all, she’d been dealing with enough of her own trauma and guilt. Having his on top of that would be unbearable for her, and he definitely didn’t want to be responsible for such a thing. If anything, that would only make him feel worse.

“Ash!”

The Pokémon Master quickly shook his head. “Sorry, I did it again.”

With a quiet huff, Misty climbed into bed beside Ash, staring intently at him. “Alright, tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Ash vehemently denied.

Misty remained silent for a short moment before replying, “no, something’s definitely wrong. You only get huffy like this when something’s wrong.”

“That’s not true,” Ash muttered, looking away from her because he knew it was _totally_ true, and he was frustrated with himself for falling into the same old habits that she knew so well.

Despite the tension in the room, Misty giggled softly and inched closer to Ash, nosing the side of his neck. “You are _not_ a good liar.”

Ash rolled his eyes and groaned, dramatically throwing himself down on the bed and grabbing his pillow, shoving it over his face.

“What, you’d rather suffocate yourself than talk to me?” Misty teased.

“No,” was Ash’s muffled response.

“Come on, get out from under there,” Misty playfully pleaded, tugging at the corner of the pillow. “What am I supposed to do with myself if you die of asphyxiation?”

_That_ got Ash scrambling to sit up, the pillow falling to the wayside as he set his fiery eyes on his wife. “Don’t joke about that!”

“Oh, that struck a nerve,” Misty mused, raising her eyebrows. “Is that what you’re grappling with? Your mortality? Because shoving a pillow in your face isn’t going to help with that.”

“How can you think that kind of stuff is funny?” Ash grumbled, narrowing his eyes. “After you…”

He trailed off and looked down sheepishly at his hands. Misty tilted her head, quietly staring at Ash before bluntly finishing for him, “after I could’ve died?”

Ash winced and nodded his head.

His own brushes with death were one thing, but Misty…that was entirely different. The very thought of potentially losing her was enough to bring Ash to his knees. He loved her, so deeply and so strongly, in a way that Ash had never felt about another human being. Watching her suffer, going through illness and discomfort and pain, all so she could carry their children, had been an enormous struggle for Ash. He had been so proud of her for dealing with all of that, doing it as in stride as she possibly could, all because she so desperately wanted their little family to become a reality. He, of course, had felt downright useless. And then, when she’d had a near fatal experience giving birth…it placed an even bigger weight on Ash’s heart.

The cruelest part was that hadn’t even been the end of the whole ordeal. Their baby daughter had been born unwell and spent the first few days of her life hooked up to all kinds of machines, unable to be with her twin brother and leaving her parents fearing for _her_ life as well. Misty, who had already been put through all of the _physical_ trauma, now also had to contend with the mental trauma on her end, dealing with a bout of officially diagnosed postpartum depression. 

No one could have ever told Ash that Misty wasn’t the strongest woman in the world. His love and admiration for her had grown immensely over the past few months, and that just made everything so much worse. 

“Honestly, I just use humor to try and distract myself from how serious the whole thing was,” Misty admitted rather guiltily. “But I didn’t realize how badly it was affecting you.”

“The weird thing is, it hasn’t until now,” Ash sighed, still refusing to make eye contact with Misty. “I mean, I was worried about it before, obviously. And I was scared. But I guess maybe I was so focused on taking care of you and getting through everything that I never fully processed just _how_ scared I really was. If I had lost you…I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

Misty showed off a sad smile and laid her head on Ash’s shoulder. “I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

“Good,” Ash chuckled shortly. “Because I need you.”

Keeping her head on its newfound perch, Misty continued, “I’m sorry everything’s hitting you all at once. But I’m glad you told me. This isn’t something I would want you to have to keep dealing with on your own.”

“I just didn’t want to make you feel worse,” Ash groaned, looking up ever so slightly. Misty could see that his brown eyes were screened behind tears; probably a big reason why he’d been afraid to look at her. “You’ve gone through enough; I don’t need to add onto it.”

“Ash!” Misty gasped, finally picking her head up to stare indignantly at her husband. Gently grabbing his face, she pulled it up so he had no choice but to look right at her. “I know you’ve been putting all of your time and energy into making sure I’m okay, and I really appreciate it! But that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to struggle either. And I sure as hell have given you a lot to struggle with.”

“But that’s not your fault,” Ash breathed, shaking his head.

“I know that it’s not,” Misty agreed. “Or, at least, I’m finally starting to. It’s just genetics, that’s all. Pretty bad batch of them, though, if you ask me.”

Ash groaned and rubbed at his face.

“Right, sorry, you don’t like the dark humor,” Misty quipped. “I’ll try and cut back.”

Without another word, Ash reached out and wrapped his arms around Misty, hugging her tightly. Misty’s eyes widened at first, taken slightly off guard, but she quickly relaxed into it and returned his embrace.

“I love you,” Ash whispered, somehow managing to tighten his grip.

“I love you too,” Misty replied, kissing his cheek. “Do you feel a little better now?”

Ash pulled back and smiled, nodding his head. “Thanks for talking me through it.”

“Of course!” Misty crowed. “I always want us to be able to talk to each other. We’re a team!”

“A great one,” Ash concurred with a laugh. “It’s kind of funny, though…I feel like we just switched roles!”

“Oh, we totally did,” Misty giggled. “You’re almost always the one backing me up with all that positivity and free spirit you have! Despite the circumstances, this was kind of nice for a change.”

A blush appeared on Ash’s face, mainly for the sweet compliment his wife had just give him. “Yeah, it was.”

Misty smiled and gave Ash another quick kiss, this one on the lips. “We should try and get some sleep before one of the babies wakes up again.”

“So, 15 minutes?” Ash teased.

“There’s the Ash I know and love!” Misty crowed, throwing her arms around her husband and pulling him down to the bed. “So sassy.”

“Yeah, but not wrong,” Ash chuckled as Misty rubbed her nose against his. “You know one of ‘em is gonna be screaming bloody murder in a little while.”

Misty raised an eyebrow. “Want to take bets on which one?”

Ash looked slightly alarmed by this. “Should we really be placing bets on our own kids?”

Misty smirked and shrugged her shoulders. “More dark humor.”

“Way less dark than what you were getting at before,” Ash sighed, closing his eyes. “No more of that.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Misty assured him.

A comfortable silence settled between the two, but it didn’t last long.

“It’s gonna be Michelle,” Ash groggily mumbled after a short moment.

“Oh, absolutely,” Misty sighed. “I can’t even bet against that.”


End file.
